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KDMC Heart and Vascular Center Expansion Under Way

King’s Daughters Medical Center today announced a new, $22 million construction project that will add two floors to the hospital’s Heart and Vascular Center.

The project will provide 50 modern patient rooms for our Heart and Vascular Center and the Center for Advanced Neuromedicine.

Both units will be located on the fifth floor of the new construction. The sixth floor will be shelled for future expansion.

King’s Daughters Medical Center is licensed at 465 beds, a number that will not change once the project is complete. “Our goal is not to add beds but to provide our Neuromedicine Unit with the specialized space needed to increase efficiency and improve the experience of care for patients and physicians,” said Fred Jackson, president and CEO of King’s Daughters.

The new Cardiac Medical Unit will allow King’s Daughters to continue to meet regional demand for high-quality heart care, Jackson said. Heart and vascular services have continued to grow, with transfers to KDMC from other hospitals increasing by 63 percent over the past several years.

Not only does KDMC perform more open-heart surgeries and cardiac catheterizations than anyone in the region, KDMC cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons perform more complex and varied procedures than anyone else. “We are the region’s resource for advanced heart and vascular care,” Jackson noted.

Work on the project began earlier this fall, said Howard Harrison, vice president of facilities for KDMC, and should be completed by December 2010. The 80,000 square foot project will result in 200 to 300 construction jobs. As a result of the project, King’s Daughters expects to add about 200 permanent jobs in nursing, allied health and support roles.

During the construction period, parts of Bath Avenue between 22nd and 23rd streets will be closed, Harrison noted.